


Don't Turn Back

by NoOneFrUkingCares



Series: It's always those who don't care who change the world [2]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: After Dark, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Boats and Ships, Dark, EXO-M - Freeform, Grand Line Concerts, How Do I Tag, Inspired by Grand Line, Magic ish, Magic not explicitly stated, Sailing, Sailing at Night, plus nini, sunset
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-21 05:56:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19996966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoOneFrUkingCares/pseuds/NoOneFrUkingCares
Summary: Some people call him crazy, insane, not normal. Most of his crew would argue against it, but there are just a few who agree with every word. Captain Lay, or Zhang Yixing, is every bit crazy, insane, not normal that they say, and more. But he's the reason they have all made it this far, and there's not a thing they would change about him, as long as they all keep going.





	Don't Turn Back

**Author's Note:**

> So, the aesthetics from Yixing's Grandline teaser finally caught up with me and while this isn't a full pirates au because I never explicitly state that he's a pirate, he basically is a pirate. Dunno how it turned like this because I only listened to videos of his concerts and he's so adorable and amazing and there are so many golden parts of his concerts besides just his amazing singing and dancing and everything, and then I turned it into this mess. (Shoutout to the fanboys confessing their love during the Shanghai concerts, braver than the US Marines.)
> 
> The idea originally came from the trailer which is probably why it's dark, but it's also hella darker than the actual teaser so... who knows.
> 
> [My sweetheart/beta is amazing y'alls](https://archiveofourown.org/users/extensive_scribe/pseuds/extensive_scribe/works?fandom_id=550814)

If you want to get anywhere in life, you need to work for it. You need to feel the sweat from your labour falling down your brow, the strain of your muscles as you exert yourself to your limit, and keep pushing on. No one cares about what happens to you, as long as the results are good. 

The sun burns upon the water, stretching impossible flames over that which refuse to be burned, marking a finish line for the victors, for those who can keep going. But it doesn’t feel like a race right now. It smells like tears in the happiest way, ruffled wind and gentle teases, you have forever to keep going. But no one has forever.

“Captain, you’ve been on guard for too long. Aren’t you going to sleep?” Yixing tears his eyes away from the horizon aglow, a bit of the fire captured within himself. He cuts an impressive figure, decked out in full uniform, the best money can make. His hat is hanging in his room, so a laurel of gold encircles his head, for the victor. Every single detail on his clothes is made with pure gold stitching, and if Minseok didn’t know Yixing for long enough, he wouldn’t have had the courage to be able to step up to tell the captain to rest.

“We aren’t safe until the sun sets, Xiumin. I have enough strength to keep watch for a little longer.” Minseok nods in acknowledgement, giving his Captain a little bow to respond. And there he leaves Yixing, far too close to the edge, as he also goes belowdecks to rest with the mortals.

The sun hides its face slowly, wishing to keep its eye upon the world for as long as it can. Yixing stares back, matching it second to second, challenging, daring, another thing to beat. The sun gives up first, leaving its nicer counterpart, who turns the other cheek than bother to follow. 

“Hey, I’ll take over steering.” Yixing tells the helmsman, a young boy practically asleep on his feet, eyes staring unseeing forwards, also robbed of sight by the star. Apparently, he wasn’t as asleep as he seemed, snapping to attention when he hears Yixing’s steps move towards him, the silent guardian finally alive.

“Captain!” Jongin bows as well as he can while still keeping a tight grip on the wheel. “No, you should rest Captain, I have just a bit longer to go before Tao comes up to relieve me, I’ll be fine.”

“You are swaying the opposite way of the boat. I think you need to rest before you fall over.” Yixing smiles, laying a gentle hand on the wheel to convince Jongin to give it up, hypnotic with sleep and care. 

“I can do it, Captain! You need to rest, I’ll be fine.” Jongin pushes the hold, but Yixing’s already exercised his full sway.

“You have only been on this boat for so long. I’ve run on less energy before, but you aren’t yet used to the sea. Rest for now.” And just like that, Jongin shuffles off, heading for a bed, though it would be more likely that he would sleep as soon as he sits down to rest on the first bunk he sees, lulled with the sway of the boat and the lullaby of the sea.

There’s nothing but sea and the promise of the horizon forth, and even the moon calms, slowly their speed so they sleep more soundly. If Yixing closes his eyes, he could swear that he’s completely alone, once again the boy who was steering his ship through the night, hoping for better results.

“I knew that you would still be here. I told you to rest, Captain.” Minseok reappears, escorting Zitao up, eyes still closed and half-asleep. Zitao reaches for the wheel on instinct, and Yixing steps aside to let his helm do his job. It’s a peculiar job he does, half-asleep while growing more of the dark circles that had plagued him since birth, but there has also never once been an attack while Zitao was steering.

“I don’t need to rest. I need to make sure my ship and crew are okay as we sail to our next destination.” Yixing walks to the bow as he speaks, listening to the guide of his feet leading straight to the bow, running a hand over the previously loved wood, carefully built with stolen pieces of the best that money could conjure up. 

“You are not a demon nor a spirit. Rest now, and not in your death.” Minseok warns, watching as Yixing takes ahold of the railing and moves forwards, trying to recreate a move done hundreds of times before, movement smoother than every previous time, yet rougher. He lands on the railing and stands straight, body moving in tandem with the ship, finally able to be in one motion with his own blood and sweat. Minseok doesn’t try to touch Yixing. At this moment, he is unattainable, from a different dimension in how he stands.

“I’m perfectly fine. See?” Yixing pulls the laurel out from his hair, and Minseok holds it safe, watching as Yixing reduces from god to king without crown. Of course he moves in motion with the ship, but that means naught.

“Get down from there. You’re going to fall and get hurt, and this is now just bordering too much on recklessness instead of bravery.” Yixing pays no mind, as he usually does. Instead, he strolls up and down, perched up on the railing like a harmless little bird, weightless and away from the laws on a lawless liquid.

“I get closer to the sea like this. It reminds me of the adventures, Xiumin! The times where we were all alone and battered down and how we just kept going! And now we’re rich!” Yixing slips the royal jacket off, leaving him in his fine red silk, barely managing to toss it correctly into Minseok’s arms. Delirious exhaustion again, but Minseok had never once been the one to talk people off a cliff. 

Yixing laughs, voice growing and getting stolen by the wind and sea as he hits a high, too far for the world to touch. And then, it’s over. There’s a reminder that he is not a god, and the heavens themselves give a push, and Yixing goes, toppling over, arms held up to embrace the world as he falls, eyes closed and his laugh fading as he calms down and rests. 

Minseok hangs his arms over the side, mimicking dropping the laurel into the sea after its owner, watching Yixing’s descent. 

There’s a quiet moment where the sea stills, just barely, and picks up again to swallow the sound of Yixing’s skull hitting against the side, rendering him finally fully immobile. And then he’s gone, taken by the waves, red blooms overcome by grey waters once more. Thankfully, the waves wash the red off the side, leaving the last traces of Yixing in Minseok’s arms.

Minseok looks around to see if anyone had witnessed anything that happened. Thankfully, it’s only night crew above deck, Luhan who once would’ve dove in right after Yixing, Yifan high in the sky, looking out like usual, Jongdae who holds the ropes, and Zitao, finally awake. No one reacts, and Minseok stands up straight, no longer looking after the ghost of his captain. He should put the things down, it’s tiring to keep holding them.

The water wraps over Yixing, entombing him, stripping him away, binding, blinding, holding onto him. There’s nothing but love in the caress of its embrace, vicious, snarling, wrathful love. 

Water fills his lungs, burning the way down with the possession that fire possesses not, determined to bring him down further. 

And the scene shifts. Yixing’s awash on the clouds, eyestone hanging from his hand, gently wrapped by a cloud of butterflies. Fortunes have been devoured to grab ahold of this gem in dreams, and yet Yixing finally has it whole and unbound. It quite matches him, awash in light, glowing deep white, resting under a gentle thrum. 

Yixing gently takes ahold of the eyestone in his other hand, disturbing the butterflies who all flutter away. And it’s finally in hand, a miracle entirely his. For such a small thing, it weighs so much, and has the full weight of the world pressing down upon it.

The setting spins, and Yixing feels himself getting sucked into the eyestone, visions, or perhaps memories washing over him, breaking him down for reconstruction. The binding wrapping around him slips, and Yixing opens his eyes.

Nothing. And then. Everything.

Zitao greets Yixing when the Captain is lifted up onto the boat, return gift from even an ocean that doesn’t want him. His red silk is bleached entirely white, and his hair seems to have settled on a shade most remarkably described by purple. He lilts as a puppet for a few seconds on his own, before falling directly into Zitao’s arms, towel spread open to receive him. 

“Captain, you really need to be more careful! What would happen if you got really hurt and we couldn’t help?” Zitao scolds slightly, patting Yixing on the back with a towel, being the only thing keeping him up. “And you should stop discarding your health, we care about you more than anything.” 

Nevermind the fact that everyone currently on deck is dying from a disease in a different part of him, Minseok thinks ironically, watching as Zitao forces Yixing to stand on his own for an instance, to dry his newly changed hair. When the towel comes off Yixing’s hair, his eyes are finally open, glowing black with the mistake of centuries echoing. His teeth don’t look entirely fit for his mouth when he opens it, and Minseok would swear that Yixing breathes in light and exhales nothing in return. 

Luhan gently tugs something out of Yixing’s hands, appearing so wordlessly that Minseok didn’t even notice that he was there until Yixing was resisting, curling the object into him tighter before realising who it is exactly. Yixing lets go of the thing finally with a sigh, letting out a bit of soul with his exhale, eyes fluttering shut. Luhan meets Minseok’s eyes as he raises the gem briefly and Minseok nods, the glimpse he caught more than enough. Their wonderful Captain managed to steal the eyestone at last.

“Are you okay?” Zitao asks, taking on Yixing’s full weight by pulling him into a hug, wrapped in white towel, soon to be the only one who is brave enough to do so. 

Yixing seems to be much more coherent when he leaves the hug, no longer the mystery of the seas. He gives Zitao a small nod, face back to normal as Luhan grabs one of his arms and slings it over his own. Luhan tells him something in a language that Minseok was not aware that either of them knew, shifting as to force Yixing to give more of his weight over. Even though Zitao was able to give Yixing a hug, not even he wanted to get wet with the dark water of the sea, smelling of salt but hinting at something much decrepit. 

Luhan doesn’t argue with Zitao about who would take Yixing down to rest, but Zitao stops talking and steps away anyways, picking up a spare mop to wipe away the seawater. 

“He’s alive. And he’s finally found what he’s looking for.” Jongdae’s voice coming from Minseok’s right doesn’t even startle him anymore, and when he turns to look at him properly, Jongdae’s look of indifference doesn’t even stir up an emotion of contempt. Despite being on the other side of the boat from the ropes he controls, thick white still wrap around Jongdae’s hands, ready for him to pull at a moment’s notice. Minseok doesn’t try to look for what the ropes are connected to.

“What we’ve been looking for.” Minseok corrects, and Jongdae hmms an agreement.

“Yeah. Yifan spot anything on the horizon?” Minseok looks up. Yifan focuses on something in the distance, thoughts occupying his sight as he stares into the moon.

“No. Raise the flags, we’re sailing into a victory.” Jongdae gives him a mockingly sweeping bow and Yifan starts slightly when their flags start raising. 

No turning back. You’re never allowed to do so anyways if you want to succeed. So you sail on, searching for more.


End file.
